Plan an upgrade to Outlook 2007

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 is compatible with earlier versions of Outlook. Upgrading typically involves no more than customizing settings and then deploying Outlook on users' computers.

Note:

This topic is for Outlook administrators. If you are experiencing difficulty upgrading Outlook on your computer, see Upgrade Your Installation in the Microsoft Office Outlook 2007Help and Support page on Office Online.

Should you upgrade all users in your organization at once or in stages? If you plan to upgrade in stages, keep in mind that Outlook users might need to exchange e-mail messages and scheduling data with users of other Microsoft e-mail and calendar applications, which can complicate support issues.

If you plan to install the 2007 Microsoft Office system, should you upgrade to Office Outlook 2007 at the same time, or later? If users upgrade to Office Outlook 2007 before upgrading to other Office applications, their e-mail editor will have limited functionality. For more information about staging your Outlook deployment (by upgrading groups of users in stages, or by separating the Office Outlook 2007 installation from the Office installation), see Determine when to install Outlook 2007.

You can install Office Outlook 2007 over any previous installation of Outlook. As in other 2007 Office system applications, user settings stored in the registry are migrated. If a MAPI profile already exists on a user's computer, you typically can configure your deployment to continue to use the profile. However, if you are upgrading from an Internet Mail Only (IMO) installation of Outlook 2000 or earlier, you might need to re-create user profiles.

Note:

Office Outlook 2007 cannot coexist with previous versions of Outlook on the same computer. If you determine that users need a previous version, do not install Office Outlook 2007.

When you upgrade users from an earlier version of Outlook, you must make choices about configuring user profiles, consider Cached Exchange Mode issues, and be aware of fax and forms changes.

You can configure e-mail services by using the Office Customization Tool and then saving your customizations in a Setup customization file. For example, you can define Microsoft Exchange Server connections, add POP3 accounts, or specify other e-mail support.

When you create a customization file for Outlook, you have several choices for retaining, creating, or modifying user profiles. For example, you can create new default profiles for new Outlook users and keep existing profiles for current Outlook users.

You can modify Outlook user profiles during an upgrade to configure a number of user options and other features for your users, including defining default categories and default calendar subscriptions and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. You can modify the default profile on the user’s computer or define changes to profiles with a name you specify.

Cached Exchange Mode is an Outlook feature that can help to provide an improved experience for users who work offline or who experience a slow or unavailable connection to the Microsoft Exchange server. Cached Exchange Mode works by downloading copies of users' Exchange mailboxes to a local file – the user's Offline Folder (OST) file. If users have large Exchange mailboxes and have OST files already configured for Outlook, and you do not already have Cached Exchange Mode enabled in your current version, you might need to take steps to help avoid errors when those users upgrade to Office Outlook 2007 with Cached Exchange Mode enabled.

When Cached Exchange Mode is deployed or enabled for users without an existing OST file, Outlook creates a new OST file. Office Outlook 2007 (and Outlook 2003) OST files are Unicode (by default) and do not have a 2-gigabyte (GB) storage limit, unlike Outlook files created with Outlook 2002 or earlier. This means that large Exchange mailboxes can typically be successfully downloaded into an Office Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003 OST file.

However, when Outlook — in Cached Exchange Mode — tries to synchronize Exchange mailboxes for users with existing OST files from versions earlier than Outlook 2003, it might be difficult to update the OST. For help with this issue, see Plan a Cached Exchange Mode deployment in Outlook 2007.

When you upgrade users to Office Outlook 2007 from an Internet Mail Only (IMO) installation of an earlier version of Outlook, you might need to re-create some Outlook user profiles. Users might also encounter the following issues; a work-around is provided when available.

After you upgrade users from Outlook 2000 IMO to Office Outlook 2007, members of Microsoft Windows Address Book distribution lists in their Outlook 2000 Address Book might be absent from Office Outlook 2007.

To work around this behavior, manually import the Windows Address Book data.

To manually import Windows Address Book data

On the File menu in Office Outlook 2007, click Import and Export.

Click Import Internet Mail and Addresses, and then click Next.

Click Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, and then click Next.

Choose how you want to handle entries that would duplicate any current Outlook contacts, and then click Finish.

When you upgrade users from Outlook 2000 in IMO mode with the Symantec Winfax Starter Edition installed and configured to Office Outlook 2007 , the following error message should appear but might not:

Setup has detected that you have one or more of the following features installed: - cc:Mail - Microsoft Mail - Net Folders - Microsoft Fax - WinFax Starter Edition (SE) These features are no longer supported in Outlook. If you continue the upgrade, you will no longer be able to use them. Would you like to continue the upgrade to Outlook?

This error message should appear, and Symantec Winfax Starter Edition should be included as one of the features that is no longer supported.

Integrated fax support is not provided in Office Outlook 2007. However, you can use third-party MAPI fax providers or Microsoft Windows fax support.

WinFax — an earlier faxing program that was integrated with Outlook — is uninstalled by Office Outlook 2007. If the viewer is currently on a user's computer, it is uninstalled as part of the upgrade process.